Today's High-Def Headlines

Paramount Seals Blu-ray Sweep - Hollywood Reporter
All six major Hollywood studios are now in the Blu-ray Disc camp, a day after Toshiba has pulled the plug on HD DVD and Blu-ray became effectively the only next-gen game in town. Paramount Home Entertainment quietly came onboard via a statement sent exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, in contrast, cast its lot with Blu-ray within hours of Toshiba's announcement Tuesday morning that it was ending the format war by ceasing the development, manufacture and marketing of HD DVD players by the end of March.

SportsTime Ohio Connects With High-Definition Pitch - MCN
No fooling, SportsTime Ohio says it will take the full high-definition plunge on April 1. The regional sports network said that as of that date it will present all of its coverage of Cleveland Indians baseball games, as well as its original fare in HD. With 150 games between SportsTime Ohio and NBC’s Cleveland affiliate, WKYC, the Indians, according to officials at the network, would thus join the New York Yankees and Mets, the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies as Major League baseball franchises that will have all of their regional/local 2008 game telecasts in the enhanced format.

DirecTV, Dish Network Team Up to Lobby FCC on Local HD - MCN
Fierce competitors DirecTV and Dish Network teamed up to try and stop the Federal Communications Commission from requiring satellite operators to carry all broadcast HD signals in markets where they carry any of them starting in February 2009. Currently, satellite operators have to carry all TV stations in any market where they choose to carry at least one. The FCC is considering extending that to HDTV signals after the transition to digital. While Dish Network and DirecTV said they are willing eventually to carry all, they argued that the FCC should phase in the requirement over four years.

NFL Network Sacked By Dish - MCN
The NFL Network has taken another distribution sack. Dish Network dropped the pro football league’s in-house channel from its America’s Top 100 Package, moving it to the Americas Top 200 package Feb. 20. That means NFL Network has lost about 4 million subscribers -- America’s Top 100 reaches an estimated 12 million subscribers, versus some 8 million for America’s Top 200 -- reducing its base to some 31 million.

U.S. Broadcasters Expect to Meet Milestone for Digital Over-the-Air Transmission
One year before the nationwide mandatory sign-off of analog television transmission, scheduled for February 17, 2009, U.S. broadcasters said they expect to meet this major milestone as part of their ongoing transition to the adoption of digital TV (DTV). 66 percent of broadcasters plan to provide consumers with more programming in HD, with its significantly superior picture and sound quality.

DIRECTV To Offer First Interactive, Multi-Screen Coverage of Masters Tournament
DIRECTV will offer its customers an unprecedented level of coverage during the 2008 Masters Golf Tournament through a unique multi-channel broadcast package. The new service will combine live CBS and ESPN coverage of the Tournament with additional views of the legendary Augusta National Golf Club course, access to complete Tournament leader board information, hole-by-hole player statistics, scores, a course tour and on-demand Masters video clips. All Masters channels will be available in both HD and standard-definition to all DIRECTV customers.